The poet's big, hulking, slightly shapeless body leans angularly towards the viewer, while his face is ridged and furrowed into what verges on caricature, yet remains a very good likeness, a psychological likeness as much as a physical one. Only a man with a keen literary sensibility could have painted it, a man who could get inside his sitters psychologically.
— Brian Fallon (chief arts critic to The Irish Times for 35 years), 'Patrick Swift and Irish Art', 1993

Patrick Swift's portrait of Patrick Kavanagh, for example, is positively iconic. Painted in London in 1961, it is ambitious in scale and scope, giving an account of the writer as a monumental — though somewhat truculent — figure. No single viewpoint could give us the view of Kavanagh's head that Swift offers. It is as if he unfolds a conventional three- dimensional image in a quasi-cubist manner.
— Aidan Dunne (art critic), The Irish Times, Sat 12 Dec 2006

John Jordan (poet, critic and short story writer), by Patrick Swift (1927-1983), 1950-1, Oil on canvas laid on board, 75 x 55cm; Signed

Francisco de Sá Carneiro, by Patrick Swift, watercolour, 1980; Francisco de Sá Carneiro commissioned Swift to paint his portrait when he was elected Prime Minister in 1980; Swift painted several portraits of Sá Carneiro (poor quality reproduction)

Patrick Swift and Irish ArtBrian Fallon
(chief arts critic to The Irish Times for 35 years)

Patrick Swift was other things besides being a painter. He was, in fact, a key cultural figure in Dublin (and London) before his voluntary withdrawal to Portugal and virtual disappearance from artistic life in either an Irish or British context. As an artist and as a man, he discovered himself rapidly, and his first exhibition at the Waddington Gallery in 1952 established him as a mature and individual painter while he was in his middle twenties. Victor Waddington had a flair for recognising genuine talent... After the triumph of his first show, Swift could have looked forward to an assured career and place in Irish art. Instead he packed his bags and left for London, where he was only one more artist among thousands. He became the friend and intimate of some of the best living painters and poets, who accepted him as an equal, one of themselves, and with David Wright he became joint editor of the magazine X, a remarkable publication which, in some respects, was light years ahead of its time. Yet he formed no relationship with any official or quasi-official art group, nor did he seek a regular berth with any of the established London galleries. When Victor Waddington moved to London in 1957 and opened a new gallery in Cork Street, Swift could well have resumed his former ties with him, but there is no proof that he ever tried to do so; in fact, there is a tradition that Waddington offered him a show, and he refused. Throughout his years in London, when he was right at the nerve centre of its art and literary life, he showed little interest in exhibiting his work, and, in fact, had only two shows in his entire career...

This site is a tribute to the painter Patrick Swift. Images displayed on this site are not a chosen selection to represent his body of work. He was a prolific artist and the images found here are only a sample of his output. This is not an official site. For further information about Swift contact Porches Pottery.